The Legend of Sleepy Hollow | Page 5

were mere terrors of the night, phantoms of the
mind that walk in darkness; and though he had seen many spectres in
his time, and been more than once beset by Satan in divers shapes, in
his lonely perambulations, yet daylight put an end to all these evils; and

he would have passed a pleasant life of it, in despite of the Devil and all
his works, if his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more
perplexity to mortal man than ghosts, goblins, and the whole race of
witches put together, and that was--a woman.
Among the musical disciples who assembled, one evening in each
week, to receive his instructions in psalmody, was Katrina Van Tassel,
the daughter and only child of a substantial Dutch farmer. She was a
blooming lass of fresh eighteen; plump as a partridge; ripe and melting
and rosy-cheeked as one of her father's peaches, and universally famed,
not merely for her beauty, but her vast expectations. She was withal a
little of a coquette, as might be perceived even in her dress, which was
a mixture of ancient and modern fashions, as most suited to set off her
charms. She wore the ornaments of pure yellow gold, which her
great-great-grandmother had brought over from Saardam; the tempting
stomacher of the olden time, and withal a provokingly short petticoat,
to display the prettiest foot and ankle in the country round.
Ichabod Crane had a soft and foolish heart towards the sex; and it is not
to be wondered at that so tempting a morsel soon found favor in his
eyes, more especially after he had visited her in her paternal mansion.
Old Baltus Van Tassel was a perfect picture of a thriving, contented,
liberal-hearted farmer. He seldom, it is true, sent either his eyes or his
thoughts beyond the boundaries of his own farm; but within those
everything was snug, happy and well-conditioned. He was satisfied
with his wealth, but not proud of it; and piqued himself upon the hearty
abundance, rather than the style in which he lived. His stronghold was
situated on the banks of the Hudson, in one of those green, sheltered,
fertile nooks in which the Dutch farmers are so fond of nestling. A
great elm tree spread its broad branches over it, at the foot of which
bubbled up a spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a little well
formed of a barrel; and then stole sparkling away through the grass, to a
neighboring brook, that babbled along among alders and dwarf willows.
Hard by the farmhouse was a vast barn, that might have served for a
church; every window and crevice of which seemed bursting forth with
the treasures of the farm; the flail was busily resounding within it from
morning to night; swallows and martins skimmed twittering about the

eaves; and rows of pigeons, some with one eye turned up, as if
watching the weather, some with their heads under their wings or
buried in their bosoms, and others swelling, and cooing, and bowing
about their dames, were enjoying the sunshine on the roof. Sleek
unwieldy porkers were grunting in the repose and abundance of their
pens, from whence sallied forth, now and then, troops of sucking pigs,
as if to snuff the air. A stately squadron of snowy geese were riding in
an adjoining pond, convoying whole fleets of ducks; regiments of
turkeys were gobbling through the farmyard, and Guinea fowls fretting
about it, like ill-tempered housewives, with their peevish, discontented
cry. Before the barn door strutted the gallant cock, that pattern of a
husband, a warrior and a fine gentleman, clapping his burnished wings
and crowing in the pride and gladness of his heart,--sometimes tearing
up the earth with his feet, and then generously calling his ever-hungry
family of wives and children to enjoy the rich morsel which he had
discovered.
The pedagogue's mouth watered as he looked upon this sumptuous
promise of luxurious winter fare. In his devouring mind's eye, he
pictured to himself every roasting-pig running about with a pudding in
his belly, and an apple in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed
in a comfortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the geese
were swimming in their own gravy; and the ducks pairing cosily in
dishes, like snug married couples, with a decent competency of onion
sauce. In the porkers he saw carved out the future sleek side of bacon,
and juicy relishing ham; not a turkey but he beheld daintily trussed up,
with its gizzard under its wing, and, peradventure, a necklace of savory
sausages; and even bright chanticleer himself lay sprawling on his back,
in a side dish, with uplifted claws, as if craving that quarter which his
chivalrous spirit disdained to